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Year One of Adoption Update

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CPS placed our son with us as a foster-only child at the age of eight-months-old. He lived with us for 15 months as a foster child. Then one year ago on September 21 we adopted him.

 

We had almost 25 years of marriage by the time our son came into our lives. Been through infertility, separation, career transitions, and culture shock. We have seen and experienced a lot. We know each other better than most, both good and bad.

However, I can’t think of many things more challenging than the past 2 1/2 years.

As I reflect about this past year since we adopted our son, I see a clear distinction between the 15 months he was our foster son and the 12 months after we adopted him. The shift is mainly in me, but I know it affects him.

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Gotcha Day!

Walking into the same courtroom I sat in multiple times as a foster parent but now as an adoptive dad was surreal. Several friends and members of our family joined us on this day of celebration.

Our son turned two a few weeks after the official adoption, so we combined his birthday with adoption parties. Good thing he enjoys parties. Over 100 people attended the celebration in Austin and about 40 were at the one in Conroe. He is one loved little boy!

Why is it that we put so much energy into days of celebration, but not as much into what it takes to make the everyday challenges a success? After the excitement, reality sinks in.

Adjustments

After September 21, 2012 a definite shift happened. Now that he was our adopted son, we no longer kept daily records of activities, doctor appointments, and medications dispensed.

No more visits from caseworkers. No more parent or biological family visits.

I remember lying in bed after the adoption was official and thinking that now he was our responsibility. I did the math again in regards to our age difference. When he graduates from high school, I will be 68. When he finishes college, I probably will be 72-73. And so on.

The urgency of raising him to be a godly young man is very clear to me. I know how I interact with him now even at this young age will have a bearing on who he is when he is 15, 20 and 25 years old.

Danielle and I also were learning how to parent a toddler. People asked whether his behavior was because he was a two-year-old or because of the trauma he experienced as a young child. Probably was both, but the combination made it more intense.

We have another person voicing their opinion…

Danielle and I are both opinionated and vocal at times about it. Now, we have a third little person who has a strong opinion and does not mind letting us know. And, he is very verbal with lots of words.

I am not used to a two-year-old telling me what I should do, or flat-out telling me, “No! I am NOT going to do that!”

He is all boy and wants to get into the middle of everything. He loves to explore, learn, and “help.”

 

Are you my mommy? Are you my daddy?

I told a friend that our son asks that a lot. My friend has three older children. He couldn’t remember any of his kids asking that question.

That is just one example of how our little guy processes things a little different from a biological child from a nurturing family environment. Especially over the last six months, we learned that he is finding out what it means to have his own mommy and daddy who will take of his needs more so than anyone else.

He is a very social boy, but it still intrigues me how he hugs just about anyone sitting still. I am sensitive to the fact that he is still developing a healthy attachment to us.

 Need for a healthy marriage

While our son was a foster only child, Danielle and I focused (probably too much) on his needs. Since we did not know how long he would be with us, we kept postponing our own needs to connect. A few weeks turned into 15 months that now is forever.

By the time we adopted our son, we looked up and recognized that we were in need of some repair. Ugh.

So this first year of being adoptive parents has also been a year of re-connecting. We made it a priority to go on dates at least a couple of times of months. We had two overnight stays away from our son and have a third one coming up soon for two nights.

That is a start back into the right direction, but we need to continue making this a priority. As I have heard experts like Karyn Purvis with Empowered to Connect say, “You can’t give your kids what you don’t have.” (my paraphrase)

So there you go…

A glimpse into what our first year of adoption was like. Our hearts are full of gratefulness for all our friends, family, and new acquaintances who have supported us before and after our adoption.

If you want to read an authentic, vulnerable account of our journey into foster care and adoption, order my book, Adopting the Father’s Heart.
If you order from my bookstore, you can get a signed hardcover or softcover copy.

I would love to hear about your journey if you have adopted a child. Leave a comment below. Also, if you have a question about our first year, please ask.

 

 

About the Author

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I am a longtime Austinite. Married my beautiful wife over 35 years ago. Adopted our son September 2012.
As a small business and nonprofit coach/consultant, I have found my sweet spot. I lean on my varied background of corporate, small business ownership, writing, and pastoring as I work to help small business owners and nonprofit founders build the business they want to have.


  • Welcome to my world! Cosby once asked why two intelligent, college-educated people would ever want to have children! One could also ask the question, WHY would people ever adopt and take on even more issues?

    You expressed it well when you wrote about how you have changed, and pointed out the issues Luke is dealing with. That’s one of the things that amazes me about ours – what are we dealing with? Is this normal behavior, or a consequence of physical, emotional, attachment, or developmental? We as parents may never know all those answers; we can only try – like your paraphrase said.

    I realized the financial commitment and what that meant when we started adopting – or thought I did. One little thing I completely overlooked – I never thought about the financial consideration of having teenage/under 25 age drivers on MY insurance until I am 81!

  • In my earlier post, I did not mean to sound so negative. There are issues where we won’t know the answer, and financial considerations I never anticipated. Given all that we have been through and all we deal with, Donna and I still consider ourselves blessed by Our Lord because of our family. Would I change anything? I would wish for different circumstances in our children’s lives. Would I still make the same choices and do it all again? ABSOLUTELY!!!

    • Ray, I love your comment, “…under 25 age drivers on my insurance until I am 81!” I bet you ask God for a long life.
      I didn’t read any negative into any of your comments. I know that you guys would do the same over again. Thank you for your compassionate heart for those who are vulnerable.

  • Loved seeing your “gotcha day” court picture. When I attended my first adoption hearing as a protective service worker, with one of my kiddos, I actually cried more then the family did! Love to see positive outcomes for these babies.

    • I totally understand that emotion. Thanks for exploring our story. I look forward to getting a copy of the book you are compiling. The adoptee/foster child part of the triad needs to have their story told more often.

      • Thank you. If your little punkin would like to submit a drawing for the book, I would be happy to use it, with your permission of course.

        (Yes, I use weird terms of endearment for all foster babies whether they are infants or teens.)

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